How to Survive in a World Overrun with Urban Legends [Horror Crossover]

[The cover is a generic Jinjiang image kindly sent by Mrs. @Ti Long Liu Long] Your mother brings home a doll named Annabelle. Around the same time, your family adopts a little girl from an orphanage. You choose: Give Annabelle to the girl as a welcoming gift. * Your father takes over a luxury hotel and moves your whole family in. There is a small cabin beside the hotel, but its owner has never shown their face. You choose: Your family swiftly moves away because a forest fire breaks out. * A package arrives with a puppet inside, its smile unnerving. You put it together with Annabelle and officiate their wedding. Your friend brings back a videotape said to kill anyone who watches it within seven days. You ponder for a moment, then destroy the tape without mercy. Your classmates invite you to explore an unknown cave. You call the “National Cave Association” and report them. Your roommates gather late at night to play with a spirit board for thrills, but you interrupt their ritual with a deck of cards; A friend books a cheap rental for you to save money. You pause for a second in front of the shabby entrance, then turn and run without hesitation; Many years later, Sidelle Christian wrote in her diary: On how to survive in a world overrun with ghost stories She pondered for a long while, then put pen to paper. Don't face supernatural events alone, and don't gather in groups during disasters. Of course, she's the exception :) ** Check out my upcoming novel, “Is This Freaking a Dating Sim?” Jiang Qianli gets her hands on an R18-rated dating game. There are four romanceable characters in the game, and she eagerly starts playing. Romanceable character one: A gorgeous childhood friend who's cold and calculating Qianli is quite pleased with him, though her progress is a little slow. ...Because she keeps dying by accident! Staring at the blood-red words “You have died” filling the screen, then looking back at the handsome young man whose eyes brim with love and tenderness, Qianli soldiers on, driven by her shameless appreciation of a pretty face. It isn't until after dying repeatedly for three playthroughs that she discovers the countless red recording lights beneath her bedroom desk. Game: “Congratulations on unlocking the achievement: Did You Survive Today?” Qianli: ... Romanceable character two: A gentle and caring online boyfriend Her online boyfriend sends her thoughtful messages every day. “XX, there's someone under your bed.” “XX, your best friend in front of you is already dead.” “XX, the food you're eating is made of human flesh, you know.” “XX, your new boyfriend is a psychopathic serial killer, but I'm willing to forgive you for falling for someone else. You know there's a knife in the kitchen, right?” Qianli: “...No way!!” Who's the real psychopath here?! The next day, she dies in an accident after buying a bag of fruit. Qianli: ?? Romanceable character three: A mysterious, gloomy, unhinged evil god Qianli becomes a girl in a strange tribe deep in the mountains, chosen as a sacrifice to an evil god. Dressed in a red wedding gown, she marries an urn of ashes enshrined in a shrine. She settles into life sharing a bed with the urn. She calmly accepts this, falling asleep each day with the urn in her arms and giving it a goodnight kiss and a bedtime story. Later, the urn opens, revealing a writhing mass of bloody flesh. Sticky strands of flesh creep onto her fingers and slowly coil around the girl's snow-white body as everyone nearby recoils in terror. Romanceable character four: A solitary, aloof young man from a conch shell After finding a boy by the sea, half-covered in blood and with bones in pieces, one bizarre thing after another begins to happen. Qianli, a poor fisherman's daughter from a fishing village, realizes she may have brought home a young man who emerged from a conch shell. Only when the number of bizarre deaths in the city keeps rising does she realize the one she picked up isn't a gentle conch-shell boy, but a terrifying overlord of the sea of blood. Late at night, the boy she keeps in the bathtub opens his mouth, revealing razor-sharp fangs, and swallows her whole. Later, among the dead spirits of the sea of blood, a white-boned orca appears with a human girl hidden in its mouth. The game is so difficult that Qianli curses as she plays: “Is this freaking a dating game?” Only after clearing it does she see the genre printed on the cartridge. This is a horror game rated R18 for its elements of gore, terror, and the grotesque. Qianli: . ...So this isn't a dating game after all. Wait, then what exactly has she been dating all this time?! * “Heart of Blood” “World-Class Rules Horror” “Return Home” “Deep-Sea Monstrosity” On how to turn a horror game into a sweet little romance (?) Theme: No matter how many hardships you go through, keep living well and protect others